


Acts of Necessity

by Aeshna



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Het
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-09
Updated: 2012-02-09
Packaged: 2017-10-30 20:41:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/335850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeshna/pseuds/Aeshna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>...sometimes comfort required more than just an offered hand and a visit home...</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acts of Necessity

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the LJ **hetfic** comm's Third Annual Ficathon, back in (I think) 2006. Set somewhere in that happy space between _The Doctor Dances_ and _Boom Town_.
> 
> Many thanks to my wonderful betas, Jwaneeta and [Mimarie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/mimarie/pseuds/mimarie) – any remaining weirdnesses are all mine.

The air was heavy with the scent of sulphur and sweat, the rubble-strewn floor a danger in itself. Jack Harkness ran headlong down an elaborately carved passageway, stumbling occasionally and feeling as much as hearing the echoing sounds of pursuit. Perspiration matted his hair and trickled down his spine, plastering clothing against skin, and he swore aloud each time the stony walls quivered and the bass voice of the mountain sounded a warning that mere fragile organics would do well to heed. One way or the other, the place was going to be coming down – or, more accurately, going up – before long, and he had _no_ intention of being caught in the middle of it.

If there was one thing to be said for travelling with the Doctor, Jack reflected as he vaulted over a collapsed and shattered pillar that lay half-hidden in the shadows, it was that you were very rarely bored.

A brief glance back to see if his pursuers had noted his change of direction, a quick turn to the right, and then he was darting off down a side tunnel, feeling the temperature rise yet further around him. His eyes were stinging, his lungs burning from exertion in the oxygen-poor air, and a part of him rejoiced in the pure thrill of the moment, in the clarity of thought that only existed on the razor's edge. Adrenaline lent him strength as fresh shouts sounded from the junction, and he grinned fiercely as he pushed dark, sweat-sodden hair back from his forehead and dragged up a fresh burst of speed. "Come on, guys," he muttered under his breath, "eyes on the prize, that's it, you know you want me...."

Something buzzed insistently against his hip and Jack glanced back once more before making his decision. Grabbing at an outcrop of rock carved into the form of something fanged and unlikely, he swung around into another torch-lit tunnel, going just three paces before spotting a shadowed alcove and skidding to a halt to press himself tightly into its shelter. Fishing the phone out of his pocket, he brought it up to his ear. "Rose?" he breathed, listening hard for the sound of his pursuers. "Can't really talk right now – company. What've you got?"

" _Jack? The ships – I didn't think they'd come in so fast...._ " She sounded breathless, albeit from nerves rather than exertion. " _Whole fleet's in orbit, I think. Some of them are coming down, down to here._ " He could picture her biting at her lip as she tried to make sense of the TARDIS scanners, caught between the need to report and the desperate desire to be out in the thick of it. " _I don't know how long until they land and the Doctor's not answering his phone!_ "

Footsteps thundered past and Jack made himself as small as he could manage, willing the mob of armour-clad guards and robed priests on their way down the overheated corridor – now would _not_ be the time for any of them to decide they needed a rest. The last of them passed his hiding place and he counted slowly to five before speaking again. "Rose? You there?"

" _He's not answering! The ships, they're everywhere and I don't know if he's –_ "

The ground suddenly shook violently, broken fragments of rock raining down around Jack's ears as something fundamental _shifted_. He muttered something obscene under his breath and threw himself out into the passageway, bolting back the way he'd come. "Actually, I'd say the Doctor's doing just fine!"

" _What's happening?_ "

"Stay put, I'm on my way back!" He cut the connection, shoving the phone back into his pocket as he ran and wondering just how far from the TARDIS Rose would be when he next saw her – her apparent determination to throw herself head-first into trouble was something that he found almost endearing. He counted the turns as he sprinted back towards the ship, trying not to turn an ankle or be crushed by falling stone as the mountain's roar deepened and cracks began to show in the sculpted walls. Screams sounded around him and steam stung his legs as he barrelled into a thankfully familiar chamber, panting in the thick, sulphurous air – and then he was on the floor and rolling as something thumped loudly overhead and the ground jerked abruptly sideways. He hissed in pain as rubble bit into his side, regained his feet... and then lost them again as the world shuddered beneath him once more. He was better prepared for the third impact, knowing it for the external bombardment it was – evidently the Resharn battle fleet was feeling impatient – and focused everything on finding the TARDIS, on finding Rose. The Doctor he trusted to be able to take care of himself, even in the heart of an awakening volcano, but he –

"Come on! You've got to come with me!"

Rose. Jack blinked sweat from his eyes and slid to a stop, feeling his bruised and burning legs complain at the movement. He looked around frantically, trying to locate her amidst the smoke and the percussive echoes, then flipped open the cover of his wristcom and tapped a quick query to pinpoint her human biosigns –

"That's it, come on, I'll keep you safe...." Rose, her blonde hair pulled back in a rough tail, emerged from a banner-clad side passage, leading a child by the hand. The boy, like all the natives of this world, looked basically human but for the lines of iridescent scales that swirled across his indigo features and the feather-like crest that swept up from his skull. What set him apart was his dress – all rich fabrics and bold patterning, more elaborate even than the ceremonial robes of the priests that Jack had been charged with distracting – and the expression on his young face, all glowing pride and fierce determination.

Jack groaned and snapped his wristcom shut. He could see _exactly_ where this was going....

"Is it time?" the boy demanded, drawing himself up to his full, if rather unimpressive, height. "Is it time? I must save my people!"

"Only person getting saved right now is you, sweetheart," Rose told the boy kindly, then turned a beaming smile on Jack. "Found him down here in this fancy cell, poor kid, while everybody else was running away. Didn't want to leave him to get squashed. Thought we could get him –" She broke off as the boy suddenly dug his heels in, trying to pull away from her with an expression of horrified outrage. "Hey, stop that! We have to get out of here. This whole place is going to come down on our heads!"

" _No!_ " The boy struggled violently against Rose's attempts to contain him. "I must save my people! It is my birthright, my _destiny_! Only _my_ blood can appease the God! Only _I_ can calm him!"

"Jack!"

A hollow, thunderous boom sounded from above them, around them, showering the cavern floor with glassy shards as a percussive rumble began to build from within the heart of the mountain itself. The boy howled and sank his teeth into Rose's hand, darting away and screaming for guards as she released him with a yelp. Jack saw her scowl and grabbed for her arm, dragging her back before she could go after the child. "Forget him – he doesn't want to be rescued!"

"We can't just leave him to die!" she protested, her voice rough in the choking air. "He's just a little boy!"

"We don't have any choice! There's no time!" A massive chunk of rock crashed down bare metres from them, cracking the once-polished mosaic of the floor and releasing a geyser of steam, and then they were running for their lives, the world reduced to action and reaction, life and death and motion. The cavern was disintegrating around them, the temperature soaring as the eruption built, and they couldn't see the TARDIS, couldn't find home, the perpetually anachronistic blue box lost in the smoke and the sulphur –

"Oi, you two – where'd you think you're going?"

Jack spun on his heel to see a comforting glimpse of green and gold, the familiar lanky form of the Doctor – still wearing his leather jacket, did the man never _sweat_? – holding the door open for them. A rising roar like the world being torn asunder sounded from behind them as they stumbled to safety, falling over each other and ending up in a tangled pile of limbs on the deck. The noise cut off as the door swung closed and the Doctor stalked past to set the time rotor in motion, wordlessly taking them away from the chaos and destruction. Jack lay there panting, coughing, gratefully pulling impossibly clean air into his aching lungs and becoming slowly aware of Rose's quiet sobs. Turning his head to look at her, he found her as filthy and sweat-stained as he knew himself to be, cradling her bitten hand as mascara-laden tears ran down her cheeks. "Rose?" he said roughly, giving a convenient shoulder a squeeze. "Come on, Rose, it's okay, we're safe now...."

She shook her head and pushed herself up from the grating, looking towards the Doctor as she scrubbed at her face with a dirty sleeve. Jack sighed and rolled, using the railing to pull himself upright and wincing as abused muscles made their protests known. He could still taste the stench of the mountain, could still feel the searing heat as it faded from his skin, but the wheezing rise and fall of the time rotor told of welcome separation, of light years and centuries between the there-and-then and the here-and-now. Stretching carefully, he said, "You know, Doc, I'm all for working up a sweat, but next time how about _I_ choose the party?"

The Doctor didn't even look at him as he slammed a hand against the console, drawing a squeal of electronic protest from the TARDIS. "Idiots!" he snarled. "Of all the stupid, greedy...."

Rose's voice was uncertain. "Doctor?"

"You lot, you just don't get it, do you?" the Time Lord continued angrily, addressing the air. "So many species, so much potential, but what happens? What _always_ happens? All anybody cares about is what they can get for themselves. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_!" He hit the console again.

"Doctor!" Rose stepped forward, her face the picture of upset, and Jack found himself moving after her. Something had rattled the Time Lord's cage and the best thing they could do would be to let him work it out on his own. "Doctor, I –"

"Exactly!" The Doctor spun around, his angular features painted in green and shifting shadow by the time rotor's light. "I, I, I; me, me, me – all anybody _ever_ cares about in their linear little lives. The universe is populated with superstitious idiots and greedy genocidal fools and they all deserve one another!"

"That's not fair!" Rose protested. "Not everybody is like that! Just because the Hulelfs had that... geo-thingy...."

Jack stopped just behind her, laying a careful hand on her shoulder. "Rose," he said softly, glancing towards the Doctor, "leave it. This isn't about us."

She shook him off, scrubbing at her cheeks again. "Just because one planet goes all weird –"

"One planet? Hah!" The Doctor scowled and stalked round the console, fists flexing at his sides. "One planet? The Hu'lhelth religious caste get themselves a geologic exoregulator from somewhere, probably a crashed Yetranis warship, and use it to set themselves up with their very own Volcano God – big ceremonies, child sacrifices, chanting masses, the works – that they can control and get to misbehave whenever the populace looks rebellious. Power, _that's_ what it's all about, wherever and whenever!" He braced his hands against a control panel, staring sightlessly at the TARDIS's glow. "That's what it's always about. But then!" He was in motion again, all coiled energy and frustrated action. " _Then_ the Resharn get wind of this Volcano God and realise just what the Hu'lhelth are using for their party tricks. And what they know, but the Hu'lhelth don't, is that a geologic exoregulator isn't just for house-training your pet volcano, oh no. That's not what it was designed for. No, it's a weapon. Fit that to your battle fleet with the right amplification and you can quite literally move mountains, destroy continents." The Doctor stopped in front of his companions, blue eyes flicking from one to the other. "Tear worlds apart."

"But we fixed it, yeah?" Rose asked quietly. "They didn't get it?"

"Nope!" The Time Lord's bright grin didn't go anywhere near his eyes. "Didn't get it – doesn't work too well from inside the magma chamber, see? Get the priests out of the way, cut the connections with the altar, see how well it doesn't float in lava! Easy."

"Only that breaks the control," Jack supplied, watching Rose's face as she turned towards him. "And if you do that too fast.... Well, _boom_."

"Boom," the Doctor repeated, his voice suddenly cold as he swung away from them once more. "Volcano Day – well, you'd know all about _that_ , wouldn't you, Captain? They'd had that thing in place for centuries – probably took half the landmass with it when it blew."

"Probably took half of the Resharn fleet as well," Jack added with a shrug, ignoring the barb. "Too close to avoid the shockwave."

Rose swallowed shakily. "We did that?"

"Yes." The Doctor's features were still, distant, as he stopped to gently stroke a lever. "Oh yes."

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, teeth catching at her lower lip. Wiping at her nose with her filthy sleeve, Rose took a half-step forward, her expression imploring. "Doctor...."

She wanted comfort, Jack realised, a hand to hold, a kindly lie. Looking at the lines of tension in the Time Lord's lean body, she wasn't going to get them. He reached out, touching her arm, his eyes on the Doctor. "Not now, Rose," he murmured. "Come on, let's get cleaned up."

Rose turned her head to look at him, a muscle jumping in her dirt-streaked jaw as she tried to hold her emotions in check. "I can't..." she started.

"Course you can," snapped the Doctor, his gaze still fixed on the console. "Off you go, run along like a good little ape. Go on, nothing else to see here."

The dismissal in his voice was obvious and Rose stiffened at the sound of it. For a moment Jack thought she was going to argue further, but then she sucked in a shaky breath and stalked off with as much dignity as she could muster, vanishing into the timeship's vast interior. Jack watched her retreat and shook his head. "Nice going, Doc."

"Who asked you?" The Doctor glared at him, then returned his gaze to the TARDIS. "Got no time for stupid, over-wrought primates sniffling all over the place."

Oh yes, something had _definitely_ rattled the Doctor's cage, Jack thought to himself, wondering what echoes of his own mysterious past the Time Lord had seen in the Resharn and the Hu'lhelth. "You didn't need to treat Rose like that. I know she's young –"

"Compared to me, so are you," the Doctor said sharply. "If you're not going to make yourself useful, Captain, then bugger off and leave me be. I can smell you from here."

"Fine, wallow on your own if that's what you really want." Jack threw up his hands in frustration and turned to leave. "If you want us –"

"I doubt it."

"— then you know where to find us. Just snap out of it soon for all our sakes!"

He didn't wait for any further response, striding out of the console room and fighting the urge to wince as his bruises twinged painfully. The sound of running water came from behind the roughly organic panelling of the third door to the left – the TARDIS taking better care of Rose than her master seemed intent on doing right now – and Jack paused for a moment, wondering if he should knock and check on her, then decided that she'd likely throw something heavy at his head if he tried. The Doctor might be hard to read but Rose was all too easy and she needed some time to calm down.

Besides, Jack was in desperate need of a good scrub himself and he somehow doubted that Rose would be willing to share her bath. People native to her era could be quite oddly unreasonable about things like that....

He paused at the infirmary to grab what looked to his eye like a thirty-second century shallow-field cutis regenerator – hardly a match for the nanogenes lost with his much-mourned Chula fighter, but sufficient to quickly heal the bruises, scratches and scalds sustained in the Hu'lhelth tunnels. Emerging with his prize, he found that a bathroom, all polished silver and white and cobalt tile, had conveniently located itself immediately opposite and he patted the wall fondly as he closed the door behind him, murmuring a heartfelt thanks to the timeship that he fancied she understood.

Setting his wristcom and the regenerator carefully aside on a lapis-streaked stone counter, Jack peeled his ruined clothing away with relief – the touch of cool air against bare skin was almost sensual after the sticky confinement of the material – and flung the filthy garments into a corner, trusting the TARDIS to deal with them as he stepped towards the shower. He took his time bathing – there was never any shortage of water and the temperature was _always_ perfectly matched to his needs and his moods – washing away the worst of the grime and the sweat before leaving the spray to stand dripping before the mirrored wall and use the handheld regenerator unit on the marks that marred his skin. There was a faint stinging sensation as each of the bruises faded to nothing, a rippling tingle as cuts and abrasions healed over to leave cleanly pink lines. The over-stretched muscles would need to work themselves out the way that nature intended, but even those pains had faded beneath the warm pressure of the shower....

Stretching cautiously, with one assessing – and somewhat admiring – eye on his reflection, Jack decided that a little longer under the flow wouldn't hurt.

By the time he finally emerged, scrubbed and scented and slightly wrinkled at the edges, Jack felt almost human again, the excitement of the day washed away with the filth that had coated him and his limbs feeling gratifyingly loose. Briskly towelling himself dry, he considered tracking down the Doctor... then decided against it. It was hardly a secret that the Doctor had issues – Jack suspected that anybody would if they found themselves the last of an effectively extinct species – but predicting his emotional state was near-impossible, the triggers on his temper seemingly random. If the Time Lord wanted to brood, then Jack was more than willing to let him – there was little point in trying to coax him out of his mood when he'd abruptly reset it himself soon enough, bouncing around looking for them as if nothing had happened. Rose, though... Rose was another matter entirely.

Jack rubbed at his short, dark hair, wondering, not for the first time, just _how_ such an unlikely pair had come to be travelling together, given that their relationship seemed to be based firmly above the waistline. He could only imagine that the Doctor had a fondness for pets....

Some clothes had appeared on the counter while he wasn't paying attention – loose, low-slung dark trousers and a white cotton shirt in a forty-fifth century cut that looked to be a little too large for him. Jack pulled it on anyway and spent an entertaining few moments remembering how to tie the shirt's long tails to best effect, finally wrapping them tightly around his waist before tucking the ends securely into the upper pleats. It left a good handspan of muscular midriff exposed and he twisted back and forth in front of the mirror, considering the effect. Not bad... he'd have to remember this style for another time – maybe tighter trousers, perhaps leather....

He shook his head and picked up the cutis regenerator. He could worry about fashion statements later – the edge should be gone from Rose's emotions by now and he needed to check on her. The corridor had shifted while he was in the bathroom and Jack could hear the Doctor in the console room as he padded barefoot into the hallway, the Time Lord working out his frustrations by hammering at some unfortunate piece of TARDIS. He paused, looking towards the sound, then turned away – he had no great desire to set himself up for further abuse.

The door to Rose's room was closed but there was a damp towel hanging from the handle as evidence of occupancy, and Jack had to smile at the sight – she was so _very_ much an early twenty-first century teenager at times. Tossing the cloth aside, he knocked on the door –

"Go 'way!"

Well, that figured. "Rose?" he called. "It's just me. Thought you might appreciate some company."

"Jack? Is _he_ with you?"

"No, it's just us stupid apes together."

There was a moment of silence from inside the room, then, "Okay, you can come in."

Rose was sitting on top of her bed, her knees drawn up beneath the oversized pink t-shirt she wore. Her hair was still damp and her tear-blotched face was startlingly free of make-up. Jack smiled as he closed the door behind him. "Hey. What happened to the spiders?"

She frowned at him. "Spiders?"

"Yeah, you know – the ones that are usually trying to eat your eyeballs?"

"Gave 'em the night off." Her smile was tired and didn't touch her eyes. "What are you meant to be anyway? Some sort of panto pirate?"

"What?" Jack looked down at his shirt and performed a quick, theatrical twirl. "Can't blame me this time, it was the TARDIS's choice. I can't help it if she likes me half-naked."

"Never had her down as a pervert." Rose pushed a lock of hair back from her face, and Jack couldn't help but notice the livid crescent of the bite mark against the paleness of her skin. "Bet you were prancing about in front of that mirror –"

"Let me see your hand." He crossed the room, stopping by the bed and looking down at her, his expression serious. "Please?"

"I've heard that line from you before...." Her smile was shaky but a little more genuine as she held out her bitten hand for his inspection. "It's nothing. Bit sore, is all."

"Bites are nasty – easy route for infections," Jack told her, settling himself on the edge of the bed and thumbing the cutis regenerator to the correct setting. "Hold still, this might tickle a bit."

Rose watched in quiet fascination as he ran the chrome and ceramic unit over her skin, the tooth marks fading to pale, innocuous-looking pink-on-pink spots. "Wow. Better than Elastoplast."

"Enhanced cuticular repair," Jack told her, setting the machine aside and inspecting the healed flesh closely. "Nothing too spectacular, it only works on recent surface wounds. There was a fashion for having them built into sex toys for a time – great if you like it rough, and some women used them to patch up their hymens. Hell of a lot of recycled virgins in the thirty-fourth...."

Rose giggled. "You are _so_ making this up!"

"Seriously! I'll get you one next time we're in the right period. A toy, that is, not a recycled virgin." He pressed a kiss against the healed skin. "There, all better."

"Thanks." Her smile turned shy as she pulled her hand back to examine it for herself. "Don't know what I'd do without you."

"Let's hope you never have to find out." He paused. "Rose, are you okay?"

She shrugged, gaze still fixed on the faded bite. "Course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it was hardly one of our calmer outings...." Jack reached across to brush her hair back from her face and she finally raised her eyes to look at him. "Look, you know what the Doctor's like – you've been with him longer than I have. He doesn't mean any of that stuff. Something about the whole situation earlier hit his buttons and he's just curled up inside his head for a bit. He'll get over it soon enough."

"Yeah." Rose sighed. She leaned back against the pile of brightly-hued pillows, then a smile ghosted across her features. "Always was a stroppy bugger."

Jack chuckled. "It's part of his charm...."

"Yeah," Rose said again, then her smile faded and she looked down at her hand again. "I just wanted to save him. I just wanted... I wanted to save _someone_."

The boy, Jack realised. The boy and the Hu'lhelth and the Resharn and all of those left to face the unleashed fury of the mountain while the TARDIS vanished into the sanctuary of the time vortex. There were times when it was easy to forget that Rose wasn't a professional like himself or the Doctor, times when sheer raw courage and resourcefulness could cover for her youth and inexperience.

And there were times when her age and lack of training were all too painfully obvious.

Jack sighed. "Rose," he started, pulling his feet up onto her bed and shuffling up to sit beside her, "it hurts, I know it does. But that's the nature of the life we lead. Time travel... it isn't all fun and tourism, especially not on this ship. If you interfere with history, you have to be ready to accept the consequences. And you have to realise that sometimes other people will accept those consequences on your behalf, whether they want to or not."

"I know," she said miserably. "But he was just a little kid – he didn't even _want_ to be saved!"

"He was the sacrifice," Jack explained, wondering how to best phrase things for Rose's cultural worldview. "He was raised to believe, and believe _absolutely_ , that he was the key to the volcano's heart, to the salvation of his civilisation. To leave when everything was kicking off like that? Unthinkable – he probably thought you were one of the Resharn, trying to murder his people."

Rose looked at him in disbelief. "By keeping him alive and safe?"

"Yes." Jack squeezed her hand, released it. "You heard him – 'only my blood can appease the God'? In his head, his safety doomed everybody but him. And I guess he wasn't raised to be selfish like that."

"But it didn't _matter_!" she protested, fresh tears welling in her eyes. "It wasn't real! It was all that geologic thing and everybody died anyway!"

"He didn't know that," Jack told her gently. "If it helps, he died happy."

"He was the only one." Rose hugged her knees tightly against her chest. "We killed them, Jack. _We_ took their thing away and they _died_. It would just have been that boy if we didn't...."

He shook his head and slid an arm around her shoulders. "If we hadn't destroyed the georeg unit when we did, the Resharn would have taken it," he said carefully. "The mountain would've blown anyway, and then they'd have used the rest of the planet for target practice. And then...." He shrugged. "Well, you can work it out."

"They'd have done the same to other worlds?"

Jack nodded, his expression serious. "We have to choose our priorities, Rose. Casualties happen – you just have to accept that and make sure you're not one of them. Sometimes the sacrifices go willingly, but sometimes you have to help them along a little."

Rose shivered, then looked up at him, brown eyes pleading. She suddenly looked almost painfully young. "But we're still here, right? We're okay? You, me and the Doctor? We're okay, yeah?"

"Yeah." Jack smiled reassuringly at her. "We're okay." She didn't want to deal with the wider realities right now, he realised, needed to find some distance before she could fully absorb what he was saying. He could recall going through his own training at her age, could remember the difficulties even within that more structured and sheltered environment. For Rose, thrown into this life almost at random from a far more primitive age, it could only be infinitely worse, and so he set his professional perspective aside and wrapped his arms about her as she buried her face in his chest, sniffling quietly. "Come on, it's all right, it's all right," he murmured against her hair. "We've lived to fight another day. If you want, I'll tell the Doctor no volcanoes next time. There's got to be somewhere quiet, scenic and with non-vicious wildlife _somewhere_ in the universe!"

"Wouldn't bet on it," Rose mumbled, but he could feel her smile through the thin material of his shirt, could feel the way she was slowly relaxing, turning pliant against him, her fingers warm against the exposed skin at his waist. "Everything wants to kill us or eat us or –"

"Hey, some of the 'or's have been kind of fun!"

"Yeah, so says Captain Jack the slut!" Rose giggled. "What was that thing with all the blue scales you went off with on Larrita-wotsit?"

"Larritas'vla. And the Vlassini are a very sensual and noble race, I'll have you know." Jack sniffed in mock offence and slid down the bed, taking Rose with him. "The things they can do with those –"

"It looked like a cross between a centipede and a snake!" She turned on her side and poked him in the ribs. "With feathers!"

"Nothing wrong with feathers...." Jack smiled in fond reminiscence, trying to distract himself from the suddenly acute awareness of Rose's proximity, of her scent and her heat. The hem of her t-shirt had ridden up, revealing enough of the soft curve of one hip to show that she was wearing nothing beneath the pink material but skin. He wanted to smooth his palm along her thigh, the rounded promise of her buttock –

Rose, apparently oblivious, gave him a squeeze. "I'm glad you're here," she said quietly, serious again. "I mean, it was good when it was just me and him, yeah? But sometimes, he just...."

"Sometimes it's easy to forget that he's not as human as he looks," Jack supplied, thinking of the Doctor – brilliant, mercurial, frustrating, a double genocide with the attention span of a hyperactive five year-old. "Just when you think you've figured out how he'll react, he's storming off on a tangent you never even saw coming."

"Yeah." Rose sighed against his chest, then shuffled up to rest her head on his shoulder. "It's nice to have someone else to talk to, though. Someone human. Even if you are like, you know, Future Boy."

"The future is relative," he told her. "Three thousand years isn't anything to write home about."

"Right. Think my Mum might disagree with you there. Course, she might forgive you once she got a good look at you...."

She looked up with a smile, meeting his eyes... and he didn't stop to analyse what he saw in her gaze, but simply reacted in the same moment she did. The first brush of lips was cautious, questioning, the second bolder, assessing unknown territory. Rose slid her hands up his body, grasping at his shirt as she parted her lips and let him lead, moaning and moulding herself against him as he cupped her head and explored her mouth with hungry intent. Her tongue slid against his, her touch awkward, almost shy, and he eased off a little, his cock jerking against confining cloth as she took over the kiss, her lips growing harder as she pressed into him, claiming his mouth with more enthusiasm than ability. There was an edge of desperation to her touch and Jack remembered those last moments in the collapsing cavern – lost and half-blind, choking on every breath, the world coming undone around them with a roar they could feel in their bones – and opened his mouth to her, feeling her moan as he drew her closer, his free hand starting to stray. Rose needed a more physical reminder of her continued survival than mere words could offer, needed a comfort that they both knew the Doctor would never, could never give –

He caught her lower lip between his teeth, worrying at it gently. Some things required the human touch... and besides, _he_ needed this too.

Pulling back from the kiss, Jack smiled fiercely at Rose's flushed cheeks and bright, dilated eyes. He could see her pulse fluttering in her throat and he dropped his head to drag his tongue hard across that tempting rhythm, feeling her whimper at the touch. She caught his leg between her knees, the pink material of her t-shirt tangling between them as she ground hard against his thigh, her hands clawing and kneading, nails catching at his exposed waist. Her hip brushed against his cloth-clad erection and he groaned, dropping his hand to the small of her back to push her closer, harder, fingers spreading wide as they touched warm, bare flesh....

Rose yelped as he landed an open-handed slap against her bare buttock. "Jack! What was tha– _ah_!" She broke off with a gasp as he delved between her legs, fingers probing, pressing, toying with her slick folds. She was wet and ready and so, so near to the edge as Jack peeled her from his thigh, turning her in his arms and pulling her close so that she lay with her back tight against him, his cock sandwiched deliciously between them. His fingers teased and explored with quick, knowing movements, each touch, each gasp, each writhing plea letting him gauge her reactions until he was as certain of her body as she was. "God, Jack, please, _please_!"

And then he was stroking, rubbing, pinching, dragging sharp teeth across her nape as he buried two fingers inside her, teasing her within and without, the base of his thumb working hard against and around her clit as he pushed and pumped and stretched and –

Rose came with an incoherent cry, her hands pressing hard against his as her hips bucked and her body clenched tight around his fingers. He kept going, letting her ride out her release as he held back his own, then biting at the slight curve of shoulder revealed by the neck of her t-shirt to draw a final gasping shudder from her. She gave a small cry of loss as he finally pulled his hand away and he smiled against her skin, bringing his glistening fingers up to brush her lips. Rose turned her head from that touch, her nose wrinkling, and he chuckled, rolling onto his back as he licked his hand clean, savouring the salt-and-sweat flavour of her climax. In passion, it seemed, Rose was the same as she was in everything else – eager, responsive, loud, and even if she wasn't the most experienced, that was a part of her appeal.

She turned towards him, flushed and panting, her expression caught between wanton and shy. "Thanks. I needed that."

He ran his tongue across his palm and smiled wickedly. "Glad to be of service."

Rose's cheeks coloured a little more, and she moved her hand to brush against his crotch, moistening her lips with her tongue as his hips jerked at the touch. Jack caught her face, pressing an open-mouthed kiss hard against her lips, then drew back, sitting up to tug his shirt tails from their holding pleats and letting the white fabric unwind itself from around his body as he reached for the fastenings of his trousers. It took a matter of seconds to kick out of the dark material, groaning in relief as his blood-darkened cock was released from its confinement. Rose pushed her hair back from her face as she reached for him, wrapping her hand around his shaft as he finally freed his arms from the shirt. Jack hissed softly, leaning back to lie propped on his elbows as Rose ran her tongue across the weeping head, her touch frustratingly hesitant, then cautiously took him into her mouth.

_May all the gods protect us from amateur blowjobs...._ Jack only just stopped himself from grabbing her hair and thrusting in search of the sensations he wanted, he _needed_ , deep and hot and slick and.... Rose was trying, he had to give her that, but she was nowhere near as worldly-wise as she thought she was and while he appreciated the sentiment, long experience had taught him that to _really_ know how to work a penis, you rather needed to have one of your own....

Teeth touched something sensitive and Jack couldn't take any more. He reached down to stroke Rose's hair, her cheek, fingers moving under her chin and gently easing her off his erection. She looked at him in confusion, slack-jawed and drooling slightly, and he grinned at her wolfishly. "Hey, I'm lying here naked and you're still hiding in your tent. Only fair I get to unwrap my present, right?"

"Cheeky!" Rose wiped at her chin and watched his face as he pushed himself up to his knees and reached for the hem of her t-shirt. Jack met her eyes, seeing a shadow of vulnerability there, and pulled the pink material up and over her head, throwing it aside. She bit her lip as his gaze raked over her hungrily. "Jack?"

"Oh, now that, that was worth the wait...." He leaned in to kiss her again, his hands moving to cover her breasts, weighing their fullness in his palms as his mouth strayed to her throat once more, licking and nipping. He eased her down on the bed, settling her amongst the scattered pillows before sitting back to idly stroke his cock as he admired the view. "Beautiful," he murmured, and meant it – Rose, unlike too many women in her time, was an image of feminine curves and ripe promise, subtly rounded in all the right places. There were places and eras where a body like that would be quite literally worshipped – although the faithful of times past might have been somewhat bemused by the odd disparity of hair colour on display now that everything was revealed....

He stroked a hand across her thigh, her hip, her belly as he settled beside her, nuzzling at her neck. Rose moaned, forming herself against him, and shivered as he nipped at her jawline. He began to work his way down her body, licking and sucking and teasing as he went, glorying in the hard line of a collarbone, the tender smoothness of her inner arm. Her nipples hardened beneath his touch, ripe and darkly pink, and he tasted each in turn before dropping his head to lick the sweat from the deep valley between her breasts, his hands kneading and stroking the soft, resilient flesh. She writhed on the covers, her fingers tangling in his hair, seemingly uncertain as to whether she wanted to hold him in place or push him lower.

Jack closed his eyes and lost himself in the pure sensation of _Rose_ – the scent and the taste of her, the texture of soft skin and rough hair and slick flesh, the sound of each panting moan and half-formed plea, the building awareness of his own need, a pressure that could not be denied for much longer. She gave a gasping cry, fingers knotting painfully against his scalp as he buried his face in the dark, sex-scented hair between her thighs and grasped her hips, sweeping his tongue across and around and within. Rose bucked, desperate, howling, and Jack drank her in hungrily, riding her waves until she crashed down again, legs spread and breasts trembling deliciously as she gasped for breath –

He pushed himself back, licking his lips, then covered her flushed and sweating body, crushing her into the covers as he caught her mouth with his own, his cock hard and wet and needing against the softness of her inner thigh. Rose mewled, tasting herself on his tongue, and at that sound Jack couldn't wait any longer. Breaking the kiss, he rolled off to the side and grabbed for a pillow, stroking careful fingers across Rose's belly and shoving the cushion beneath her hips as she arched into his touch. She groaned, tossing her head as he positioned himself between her legs, spreading her wide, wider, pressing his tip into her open body, so hot and slick and _his_....

Jack watched her face as he entered her, watched as her full lips opened in unconscious mimicry of his penetration, her eyes fluttering closed as her neck curved in graceful surrender. She groaned as he slowly buried himself within her, pushing into that tightly perfect heat and letting it engulf his senses. Deep, so deep, so hot, and Rose was so very young, so very artless, so very clearly used to the unskilled fumblings of her peers. A quick jerk of his hips and he was fully sheathed, balls pressed hard against taut flesh as Rose's fingernails bit into his arms. "Oh god, Jack –"

He dropped a fierce kiss against her mouth, threading his fingers through her hair, barely able to think beyond the velvet and steel grip her body held him in. "Shhh. Safe now."

"Yeah." She nodded, her dilated brown eyes still shadowed with concern. "Yeah. Jack, what about... about, you know?"

He chuckled tightly. "Contraceptive implant," he grated. "And I'm clean. Don't worry, safe there, too." Not waiting for an answer, he nuzzled the side of her neck, lapping at the tender skin beneath her ear as he drew his hips back and then drove into her again, his soft grunt counterpointing her gasping cry. Rose's legs jerked and closed hard around his waist, her heels bruising the small of his back as she fought for purchase, and Jack sank himself into the moment, all slick motion and heated need, two bodies communicating on levels far older than language; scent and sensation, taste and texture, the pure, visceral pleasure of this most ancient dance. Rose panted and moaned, clawing at his back, and he read her reactions on instinct, adjusting rhythm and angle and pace to make her writhe and beg beneath him. Firm, flushed breasts bounced and quivered in time with his thrusts and it was all he could do to hold back, hold back, groaning as Rose rippled around him and then clamped down _hard_ , her climax pulsing and pulling him towards the edge, drawing him onwards with locked limbs and sharp nails and a howl of triumph.

Her shrieks of completion were still echoing in his ears when he finally let himself fall, tumbling into his orgasm with a hoarse cry of his own, his body slapping wetly against Rose's as he spent himself deep inside her.

They were both gasping for breath when Jack finally slipped free of her and rolled to the side, feeling the sweat start to cool on his skin as contact was lost. The air was thick with the scent of their exertions, the sheets in a state of utter, sodden disrepair, and they were both in severe need of a visit to the showers yet again.

"Wow." Rose lay on her back, gazing up at the ceiling, a satisfied smile curving her lips. "Just... wow."

Jack pressed a lazy kiss to her shoulder. "Hmm?"

"I mean, I've never had it like...." She gusted a contented-sounding sigh. "I mean, that was good. Really good."

"Pleased to hear it – I try my best." He raised a hand to toy with a breast, rolling the peak of the nipple between thumb and forefinger and smiling at the catch in her breath. "Guess I've just raised the bar for old Mickey."

Rose groaned, turning her head away, the moment abruptly broken. "Oh my god, Mickey...."

Early twenty-first century sexual mores – he'd almost forgotten. Jack abandoned her breast to stroke her arm, his touch gentle, comforting. "Come on. He's not here, I am, and you said it yourself – you needed this. We both did. It's just something good between friends. Right?"

She nodded, her gaze still averted.

"So," Jack said, "no harm done. And besides," he added, letting his hand ghost across her ribs and down between her still-open thighs, "it's hard to be unfaithful to someone whose species, by the timing of our last stop, hasn't _technically_ evolved yet."

Rose turned her head to look at him, then gasped as quick digits dipped into her again, stroking and rubbing for a few moments. She was spent, his touch eliciting little more than comfortably satisfied groans, but he was in no great hurry as he pulled his hand away once more. "Jack?" Rose murmured, then squeaked as she saw what he was doing. " _Jack_! That's disgusting!"

He grinned, admiring the way the evidence of their completion formed shining strands between his spread fingers, then sucked them clean, letting the flavour sit deliciously on his tongue for a few moments before swallowing. "It's only disgusting if you didn’t enjoy it," he told her, and laughed as she wrinkled her nose at him. "And you can't tell me you didn't enjoy it. I think I've gone deaf in one ear from the way you were –"

"Yeah, yeah." Rose poked him in the ribs, then rolled over to snuggle against his side, one arm thrown loosely across his chest. "Thanks, Jack. I... I really did need that."

"Any time," he told her, realising the irony of the phrase when they were in the temporal limbo of the vortex. "You okay now?"

Rose nodded against his shoulder. "Yeah. I'm fine. Do you reckon the Doctor's calmed down yet?"

"He'll find us when he's ready. He just needs some time to himself."

"Right." She sighed. "I know it's stupid, but I worry about him."

Jack smiled and pressed a kiss against her hair. "Not half so much as he worries about you. He's probably going to skin me alive for this, you know?"

"He'll have to get through me first," Rose told him with a quiet laugh that suddenly turned into a yawn. "He worries about you an' all, Jack. Just as much as he does about me."

"Yeah, I know," Jack said, not entirely believing that last detail but knowing that Rose needed to. She still had issues to address before she was fully reconciled to the life she led, but for now she was calm and comfortable and ready to forgive the Doctor his moods. Whether the Doctor would be willing to forgive Jack for violating his favoured pet was another matter....

"Tired." Rose yawned again, as if in demonstration, and giggled. "All shagged out...."

Jack kissed her hair again and held her, stroking her arm as she curled against him and drifted off into contented sleep. "Yeah," he murmured, feeling his own fatigue catching up with him, the exertions of the day closing in once more. "All shagged out." He ought to move, he knew, ought to carefully extricate himself from her arms and go in search of a shower, fresh clothes, and a possibly irate Time Lord –

He stifled a yawn of his own, blinking as the lights began to dim around him, the TARDIS passing her own silent comment on what he ought to be doing. Chuckling quietly at that, he felt Rose stir, her fingers flexing against his chest as she mumbled something soft and incomprehensible and settled again. Pulling the covers up across their bodies, Jack looked down at her and sighed, wondering if he had ever been so young and trusting and trying not to think of the Hu'lhelth child. Rose was no intended sacrifice... and yet he knew that she believed, and believed _absolutely_ , that she was the key to their own particular volcano's heart.

Jack considered that for a moment and decided that, potential eruption or not, he didn't need her protection. He trusted the Doctor, for all his quicksilver tempers and half-buried grief, and trusted that the Doctor would understand that sometimes comfort required more than just an offered hand and a visit home. If he didn't, well....

If he didn't, then Jack would deal with it when he got there, the same as he did everything else.

Smiling to himself, Jack held Rose close and followed her into sleep.


End file.
